Gelish Mani Sunday | Under Her Spell Lacey Look

Yesterday I accomplished a huge goal: I completed a 10K race! Now, I've spent my entire life knowing I was and would never be a "runner". January of last year I couldn't jog for more than 30 seconds without wanting to absolutely die and the furthest I'd ever run non-stop was 1/2 mile. When I was 12. So I started training and eventually ran one mile, then I ran a 5K, then I ran a lot of 5Ks and this summer we decided to train for the Disneyland 10K.

How I think I look.

How I really look.

To be able to say I ran a 10K is, like, beyond my comprehension. Even though I was slow (finished in 1:27. Yeah. Not fast) and tired and hot and sweaty... I crossed that finish line! Next on our bucket list, something I've been wanting to do for about a year... we signed up to run the Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon in January. WHAT ARE WE THINKING!?!? I'm scared and excited and we're just gonna continue on with our training. The best thing about our Saturday morning long runs? The HUGE breakfasts we eat right afterward.
So my reward for myself was... a new Gelish mani!! I've been wanting to use my new Under Her Spell colors, and now that it's September 1st it felt like a good time to get some fall colors on my fingers :)
I really liked the thick consistency of the colors from that collection and I got really good opacity in just 2 coats. Now, I've seen some rumors that My Nightly Craving is a fader, so I think I'm going to take a pic at the end of the week and compare it with the picture I took today. I really hope it doesn't fade - this mauvey pink color is so nice!

I wanted to try to go with a lacey type of theme, but I'm not sure I accomplished it. I have a Konad stamping plate that has a lace design and I had an idea. Now, Gelish does NOT stamp. At all. You can put the polish on the design on the plate and scrape it away, but the minute you press the stamper to the plate to try to pick up the design it just turns into an amorphous streak of color. So I had this idea: what if I apply the Gelish to the plate, scrape it, then flash cure it for 5 seconds under the 18G lamp? Would that give the polish just enough body to transfer? The final verdict is: yes and no. The design actually DID transfer on to the stamper, but it was SO light and faded it wasn't worth putting on the nail. Half the polish transferred onto the stamper while the other half stayed in the design on the plate. It was worth a shot! Maybe next time I can try a slightly longer flash cure and see if that helps.

So because my idea didn't work I had to hand-paint a lace design on my pinky which turned out... ok. I'm really happy with the way the studs look, though!

For the above manicure I did the following:

Thumb Nail:

1. 2 coats of My Nightly Craving, cured all coats
2. Dabbed Foundation onto the polish and pressed the studs in, cured
3. Finished with 2 coats of TIO, cured all coats

Index Nail:

1. 2 coats of My Nightly Craving, cured all coats
2. 1 coat TIO, cure
3. 1 coat Inner Vixen. Without curing, used a bamboo stick (I felt it worked better than the dotter) to create swirl designs that revealed the lighter color underneath, cured
4. Finished with 1 coat of TIO, cured

Middle Nail:

1. 2 coats of My Nightly Craving, cured all coats
2. Applied Inner Vixen to the top half of the nail, spongine it off until I achieved a garadient look, cured. Did this one more time to achieve opacity, cured.
3. Finished with 1 coat of TIO, cured

Ring Nail:

1. 2 coats of Lust At First Sight, cured all coats
2. Dabbed Foundation onto the polish and pressed the studs in, cured
3. Finished with 2 coats of TIO, cured all coats

Pinky Nail:

1. 2 coats of My Nightly Craving, cured all coats
2. 1 coat TIO, cure
3. Put a few drops of Inner Vixen on foil, cured under 18G lamp for 5sec to thicken it up
4. Using a nail art brush, hand painted a lace design with Inner Vixen, cured
5. Finished with 1 coat of TIO, cured